Turbine-engine.



No. 846,928. PATENTED MAR. 12, 1907.

- H. LENTZ.

TURBINE ENGINE. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 31.1905. I

' 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

\/\/\TNEssEs-, INVENTQR, I HUGO LENTZ,

. HIS ATTQRNEY.

1 PATENTED MAR. 12, 1907.

' H. LENTZ. TURBINE ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 31.1905.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ALV I E TZMWIA. .QTWMN T E A WL Wows e H u H mm HUGO LENTZ, OF BERLIN, GERMANY? TURBINE-ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 12, 1907.

Application filed March 81, 1905. Serial No. 268.112.

' To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HUGO LENTZ, a subject of the German Empfi ror, residmg at /11 Potsdamerstrasse, erlin, Germany,

have invented a new and useful Improve ment in Turbine-Engines; and I do hereby declare the following-to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

This invention relates to turbine-en ms; and its objects are, first, to provide a tur ineengine in which the power-wheel or powerwheels may be run in either direction; second,

' which could be driven in either to provide a turbine;wheel of novel construction and useful in such form of engine; third, to simplify the manufacture of turbinewheels, especially referring to the aforesaid novel form, and, fourth, to rovide a turbineengine which shall be simp e in construction and economical in operation.

Prior to my invention it has been pro osed to construct turbine-engines, whether riven by steam, gas, or water, with imgia ct-wheels ection by the pressure medium. So far as I am aware, however, all of said rior or proposed structures have required t e driving of one or the otherof two impact-Wheels mounted on or con ected with either one or two powershafts to drive the same in one direction or the other or the connection of two independent sets of paddles with a single impactwheel and intended for driving the same in opposite directions. It is always, of course,

possible with a turbine-wheel having impactsurfaces inclined or recessed in one direction only to roject the pressure medium against either t e impact-faces oragainst the nonimpact faces, and consequently reverse the motion of the wheel to some degree, but with a prohibitive consumption of pressure medium. One proposed structure required the em loyment of separate oppositely-rotatable tur inc-wheels with corresponding shafts. Other proposed forms have called for two such rotatable turbine-wheels upon the same shaft. (See in this connection page 315 of Loewensteins translation of the second edit on of The Steam Turbine, by Stodola.) Where two turbine-wheels have been emplo ed, they have usually been fixed near eac other or arran ed to be telescoped or housed one Within t e other. With any of such constructions, however, it has been necessary to drive two wheels, one of which does no work and retards the efficiency of the other by offering resistance to the air. In

the turbine later pro osed and which re- ;quired two sets of pa dles (one for forward rotation, the other for reverse rotation) applied to asingle wheel this same difficulty is present. v

My present invention contemplates the use in a turbine-engine of an impact-wheel which is provided with peripheral paddles having recessed impact-faces which permit the wheel to be driven with great facility in 1 either direction. As shown in the drawings and as hereinafter described, I prefer that the paddles shall'be thicker than the usual forms of turbine-blades, shall have impactr'ecesses. at both sides of each paddle, and shlslilllbe integral with the rim portion of the w ee Referring to the drawings, Figuie 1 is a cross-sectional view of a form of turbine-en gme embodylng my present improvements and showing my improved turbine-wheel and the nozzles for supplying ressure medium to drive the wheel in either irection. Fig. 2 is a sectional view showing a fragment of my new turbine-wheel. Fig. 3 shows a turbine:

wheel devised by me and carrying guiding I devices to assist the action of the pressure medium upon the blades orpaddles. Figs. 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, and 10 show various forms an relative arrangements of blades or paddles according to my invention. Fig. 6 shows a nozzle for directing ressure medium to the blades or paddles and a channel for returning and reusing the pressure medium after it has once left the wheel. I As seen in Fig. 1, e and f indicate the opposite nozzles injecting pressure medium against the opposite impact-faces a and b of the addles or blades of the turbine-wheel and 1n the direction indicated by the arrows. It will be understood, of course, that but one nozzle is operating at a time. 'Ihetturbinewheel is arranged between the two nozzles, as shown, and by this arrangement I am able to provide a turbine-engine having a single wheel adapted to run in either direction and to correspondingly drive a power shaft (not shown,) a form of engine particularly well adapted for marine work.

The form of turbine-wheel preferably employedby me in the'illustrated turbine-engine is provided with blades or paddles having recessed or concave impact-faces a in one direction and with blades or paddles having recessed or concave impact-faces b in an opposite direction, thus permitting either set expensive to manufacture.

,may be attached or applied thereto in any of the ways well known in this art.

, As shown in Figs. 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, and 10,the curvature of each of the concave impactfaces a and b is bounded by a straight line, which is substantially parallel with an ima inary line m n, passing through the bla e, as indicated in Fig. 4. If desired, however, the curvature of each of the impact-surfaces maybe bounded by a line which slo es toward the imaginary line, as

' shown in igs. 5 and 6.

By reference to all of thefigures, excluding Fig. 4, it will be seen that I may slope the blade edges or sides c and 11 either in the same on opposite directions. pecially shown in Fig. 5, the arts 0 and d are sloped in parallelism and w ich' correspond with the relative flow direction, not only are impulse lossesminimized or avoided, but a paddle or blade is provided which is advantageously acted upon by pressure medium when returned by a deflecting chute or way 9 (see Fig. 6) to the turbine-wheel. It may be preferred, however, as shown in Figs. 7 and 8, to provide thep'addles or blades with sloping edges 0 and d, which incline toward each other, and thus avoid or minimize any unfavorable angles or surfaces which might otherwise be presented to the pressure medium delivered through a deflecting-chute, such as 'g. The curvatures a and b may be identical, Fig. 7, or varying, Fig. 8, to suit the desired purposes. Thus the general relation of the corresponding parts of the curvatures is r, may be larger, equal to, or smaller than '1.

The formsof blades shown in Figs. 7 and 8 are particularly advantageous for repeated steam inflow in the direction of movement to the right, While the relations for the opposite direction of movement are less favorable. In practice I prefer that the more advantageous form of blade (having curvature a) be taken for the forward rotation, whilethe other or smaller form (having curvature b) be reserved for backward rotation. If desired, however, the two forms of curvature .ma be alternated, as shown in Figs. .9 an 10.

As shown in Fig. 3,-a guide-piece k, which may be hollow or be a solid block, as illustrated, may be inserted between each pair of blades and will assist in deflecting the jet of Where, as esaces. The guide means may be integral with or added or attached tothe wheel or its rim portion.

I prefer thatthe paddles or blades may be integral with the rim portion ofthe wheel, and any of the various forms of paddles or blades-shown in the drawings may be formed in the wheel-rim by cuttin radially thereinto by means of a conical drilI or any other suit able tool, such as a countersink, slide-rest tool, or the like. As shown diagrammatically in Figs. 9 and 10, a suitable size of drill may be used and the opposite impact-faces of successive paddles or blades be cut simultaneously. Obviously the paddles or blades and the guiding means it may be formed simultaneously with suitable tools.

The method of manufacture, by which two blades are simultaneously provided with adjacent and oppositely recessed impactfaces, constitutes the subject-matter of an' application filed as a division of this present case.

What I claim is 1. In an elastic-fluid turbine, a rotatable element having a plurality of symmetricallycurved buckets each provided with two similar concave impact-surfaces facing in opposite directions, the adjacent impactfaces of successive buckets being oppositely disposed in the plane of rotation of said 'element, and means to discharge fluid-pressure against said buckets to rotatesaid element.

2. In an elastimfluid turbine, the combination with a-rotatable element adapted to be driven in opposite directions by the impact of fluid-pressure, of a plurality of buckets or blades whose front and reverse faces are concaved and whose side edges afe arallel and angularly disposed to the plane 0 rotation of v the element.'

3. In a turbine, a rotatable element carrying buckets or bladesformed with two impact-surfaces which face in opposite directions, said buckets increasing in thickness from the center toward the side edges, an im pact-surface and side edge of one bucket standing opposite to the reversely-facing impact-surface of an adjacent bucket. 4. In a turbine, a bucket element formed with two wide arcuate impact-faces of substantially equal surface area which face in opposite directions and are arranged in staggered relation to each other, and narrow parallel sides connecting the corresponding edges of said faces.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

KARL H. MERK. 

